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Sociolinguistics from the Periphery "presents a fascinating book about change: shifting political, economic and cultural conditions; ephemeral, sometimes even seasonal, multilingualism; and altered imaginaries for minority and indigenous languages and their users."

Book Information

Title:

Languages of the Himalayas

Subtitle:

An Ethnolinguistic Handbook of the Greater Himalayan Region containing an Introduction to the Symbiotic Theory of Language

The survey work 'Languages of the Himalayas' provides a bird's eye view ofHimalayan languages and language communities. It also constitutes a primarysource for much new, hitherto unpublished data on several languages. Thedemographic mosaic of the Himalayas today is viewed in a historical andcomparative linguistic perspective. The reader will find an outline of thehistorical and prehistorical developments that have determined the modernethnolinguistic composition of the Himalayan region, involving variousindependent linguistics stocks or language families. Maps illustrate thedistribution of language communities and trace the routes of ancientmigrations. There is an illuminating discussion of grammatical featuresfound in Himalayan languages.